Press Release – Date: September 8, 2022
Nebraska Companies Collaborate to Provide Smart-Tank Technology for Stockmen
Two of Nebraska’s most notable agricultural brands team up to launch the first-of-its-kind technology to help livestock producers manage water with less stress.
Grand Island, NE – RealmFive and Behlen Mfg. Co. have teamed up to bring Guardian™ by Behlen Country, a patent pending, and first-of-its-kind stock tank monitoring technology, to market. Premiering at Husker Harvest Days near Grand Island, NE, September 13-15, Guardian™ incorporates leading technology to help livestock producers manage one of their most limiting factors: Water.
“Water is such a significant resource for livestock producers, especially cattlemen. At RealmFive, we are automating agriculture by accelerating the industry’s transition to efficient labor-saving & digital supply solutions,” said RealmFive co-founder and CEO, Steve Tippery. “Water management takes time and labor.
Those are two things in short supply these days.” Ranchers grazing or housing livestock must provide quality water. Until now, that has involved frequent trips to visually inspect water sources that often exist in remote locations. “When labor is short, there is often limited time to check tanks. Add in the dozens of miles driven daily, costs add up quick, especially with high fuel prices. Our reliable and easy-to-use technology helps cut down on the miles and wasted time spent,” says Tippery.
The collaboration is an effort by two brands dedicated to agriculture and based in America’s heartland. RealmFive, founded in 2015 in Lincoln at UNL’s Innovation Campus, focuses on automation and digital solutions for agriculture. Behlen Mfg. Co. is one of Nebraska’s oldest and most successful innovators.
With nearly a century of creating solutions for better farming and ranching, Behlen is no stranger to solving hard problems in the ag industry. “Innovation is in our DNA,” said Jeff Malousek, Behlen Country District Manager and New Product Development Manager. “From our earliest days, Behlen has helped innovate the ag industry. Pairing RealmFive’s connected solutions with our mechanical products is exciting. There are not a lot of tech solutions for range producers available today, and we want to lead the way to improve that with easy-to-use, producer-focused solutions.”
The way Guardian™ works is simple: Livestock producers or caretakers purchase the solar-powered device, and the device is ready to deploy at unboxing. To install Guardian™, a stockman simply scans the QR code on the device, follows the easy-to-navigate app, and drops the sensing unit into the water tank. Upon installation, users have access to a cloud-based platform they can access on their phone from anywhere! While the list of features is evolving, Guardian™ initially has the ability to report and notify users on a variety of factors, including water level, water temperature, geographic location, device health, and device status. Alerts and notifications keep users apprised of problems and empower them to act before catastrophes occur.
RealmFive was founded in 2015 in Lincoln, NE. Since 2015 it has forged a new frontier utilizing leading agricultural technology for its customers. The “fifth-realm” of ag is a focus for the company, creating data-enabled solutions that solve industry problems at scale across the Livestock, Agronomy, and Ag Retail spaces.
Behlen Mfg. Co. was founded in 1936 in Columbus, NE, and has grown to become the leading manufacturer of livestock equipment in the United States. The Behlen group of companies have six production facilities located in Columbus, NE; Omaha, NE; McGregor, TX; Baker City, OR and two in Sarasota, FL.
For questions or more information, please visit the product page: r5ag.com/guardian or contact:
Austin Benes – RealmFive: austin.benes@realmfive.com
Jeff Malousek – Behlen Country: jeff.malousek@behlenmfg.com